Rogue Takes The Cure
by Kae Ti
Summary: A scene which was sorely missing from the third XMen movie. I love Rogue and her lack of useful involvement in this movie was a great disappointment to me. So I wrote the scene where she takes the cure as I wish I had seen it on screen it was a vital p


The scene outside the building where the Cure is being administered is much like it was when Bobby bumped into Pyro - a lot of angry demonstrations and a straggly queue of scared-looking mutants outside the door. Rogue joins the end of the line, wearing her old hooded cloak from the first movie. She exchanges a nervous glance with a twenty-something young man stood in front of her, then leans against the brick wall, looking pale and sick.

"Nervous, huh," the stranger says conversationally. "Feelin' pretty green myself."

"I'm fine," Rogue says quietly. The line moves and they enter the building. Inside there are twenty or so tables, each manned by a nurse weilding a hypodermic syringe. The stranger blanches and looks away.

Rogue looks at him, looks away, looks back and then finally says, "If you aren't sure about this, you should probably think about it some more. There's... no going back, you know." She looks away again as she says the words, and swallows.

"Ain't that." The stranger scuffs his booted heel on the floor. "I hate needles." 

They look dead at each other for a moment, and the stanger's lips twitch and his eyes twinkle. Rogue drops her gaze, fighting a small smile. Suddenly the whole situation seems so much more human and normal.

The stranger is called forward, and Rogue wishes him good luck. Suddenly on the other side of the hall, there is a startled cry from one of the nurses as the syringe she is holding spontaneously explodes. The middle-aged woman who was about to receive the Cure pushes her way back towards the front, saying over and over "I can't, I'm sorry, I can't." She flees the hall in tears. The nurse prepares a new shot and beckons Rogue over. 

"You'll need to use those those," says Rogue, pointing to the box of hygeine gloves on the table. "You can't touch my skin. I'll hurt you."

The nurse looks as though she isn't sure if that's meant to be a threat, but then she sees that Rogue is serious, and she reaches for the gloves. Rogue peels off her own at the same time. "Going anywhere on vacation, sweetheart?" the nurse asks as she rolls up Rogue's sleeve and swabs her arm. Rogue isn't listening. At the table next to her a girl with long white hair and very pale blue eyes is being prepped for her shot. She looks to be twelve or thirteen, and she appears deeply miserable. Her mouth keeps creasing at the corners as if she is going to cry. 

"Daddy, please," she says. The man stood beside her glares at her. The girl's nurse looks from the girl to her father. 

"I'm sorry, sir," she says, "I don't think I can do this if the young lady isn't in agreement. I'm afraid guidelines state that the mutant must give their consent." 

"She's a child, for God's sake," the man replies angrily, "and I'm her father. I know what's best for my own daughter."

"I'm sorry," the nurse repeats, putting the syringe down. The girl suddenly looks panicked.

"No, don't, I do want it, I do," she insists. "Please don't send me home without it, please."

The nurse hesitates, and the girl looks to her father for his approval. He nods at her, satisfied, and her whole face lights up to see that she has pleased him. "I want the cure," she says, much more firmly. "I just want to go home and have everything back to how it used to be before I got sick."

The nurse picks up her syringe again, and Rogue is suddenly brought back to earth by a sharp prick in her arm. She winces. "There you go," her nurse says, covering the mark with a blob of cotton wool. "You're all done." 

Rogue stares down at her arm for several seconds. "Thank you," she says finally, and gets up. She makes her way out of the hall, rubbing the sore spot above her elbow. She almost bumps into someone, and draws hurriedly back out of habit. "Hey," says the other person. It is the same guy from before. "You got it, then?"

"Yeah." Rogue glances at him, but other than that she can't take her eyes off the mark on her arm. "How about you?"

"Er... no, I didn't, actually. I REALLY hate needles," he says, but this time he doesn't even raise a smile. "Hey, you okay?" he asks.

"I think so," says Rogue. "I just... I don't feel any different. What if it didn't work?"

"Hey, I'm sure it's fine," the stranger says. "I have to go now, but it was nice to meet you." He holds out a hand. Rogue hesitates, reaches out to shake, hesitates again, and then grasps the stranger's hand. He smiles as they shake and says, "My name's Gambit."

Rogue stares at their clasped hands in wonderment, and rubs her thumb experimentally over Gambit's knuckles. Then she looks up at him with tears in her eyes and says, "I'm Marie."


End file.
